The Power of Music - Sukumar Ray - ICSE - Std X
Updated: Aug 12
SECTION 1 — Poem Information
Poem Title: The Power of Music
Poet: Sukumar Ray (Translated by Sukanta Chaudhuri)
Anthology: Treasure Chest: A Collection of ICSE Short Stories and Poems (Evergreen Publications)
Textbook: ICSE Class 10 English Literature (CISCE)
Exam Component: Paper 2 — Literature in English, Poetry section (16 marks)
SECTION 2 — About the Poet
Sukumar Ray (1887–1923) was a master of Bengali nonsense literature, celebrated for his whimsical humor, brilliant illustrations, and sharp social satire. Son of author Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury and father of Oscar-winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Sukumar Ray created timeless classics such as Abol Tabol and HaJaBaRaLa. Translated into English by renowned scholar Sukanta Chaudhuri, "The Power of Music" ("Ganer Gunto") showcases Ray's ability to blend absurd situations with moral commentary. Through the excruciatingly loud singing of Bhisma Lochan Sharma, Ray satirizes human vanity, lack of self-awareness, and the refusal to consider how one's unbridled enthusiasm can disrupt others.
SECTION 3 — Stanza Map
Stanza / Movement # | What It's About |
Movement 1 (Lines 1–4) | Bhisma Lochan Sharma begins his summer singing, causing listeners across vast distances to flee in terror. |
Movement 2 (Lines 5–8) | The unbearable singing triggers panic, overturning carts and causing horses to collapse while Bhisma sings on. |
Movement 3 (Lines 9–14) | Nature revolts as fish dive deep, trees collapse, and birds flip in mid-air to escape the screeching noise. |
Movement 4 (Lines 15–16) | The destructive singing reaches its climax, causing the heavens to weep and massive buildings to tumble. |
Movement 5 (Lines 17–20) | A wise billy goat charges Bhisma, silencing him forcibly and restoring peaceful silence to the world. |
SECTION 4 — Stanza-wise Meaning
Movement 1 (Lines 1–4)
Text Reference: Passage beginning with "When summer comes, we hear the hums..."
Meaning: With the onset of summer, Bhisma Lochan Sharma begins singing with extreme earnestness, his voice echoing from the hills to the plains across vast geographical distances. Although his listeners recognize that his intentions are completely harmless, his loud, grating voice is so intolerable that dazed crowds flee to escape the sound. The opening establishes a humorous world where absurd hyperbole highlights a total lack of artistic self-awareness.
Movement 2 (Lines 5–8)
Text Reference: Passage describing the panic and overturned carts...
Meaning: Bhisma’s booming voice unleashes a stampede of terrified people who plead desperately for him to stop before his music kills them. The acoustic assault causes bullock carts to flip over and sturdy horses to collapse helplessly along the road. Indifferent to the physical destruction around him, Bhisma continues projecting his song like a continuous military bombardment.
Movement 3 (Lines 9–14)
Text Reference: Passage describing the reactions of fish, trees, and birds...
Meaning: The chaos spreads rapidly from human society into the natural world, disorienting animals completely. Fish plunge into the deepest lake waters seeking refuge from the noise, while giant trees shudder and crash to the ground. In the sky, flying birds lose control and turn upside down in mid-air, while frantic onlookers continue begging Bhisma for mercy in vain.
Movement 4 (Lines 15–16)
Text Reference: Passage describing the voice reaching the sky and tumbling mansions...
Meaning: Completely lost in his own performance, Bhisma becomes entirely unreachable to human protests as his screeching voice pierces the upper atmosphere. The poet personifies the sky itself as weeping in agony over the horrific sounds, while majestic mansions crumble under the sonic pressure. The comic hyperbole reaches its peak by portraying unchecked artistic vanity as a catastrophic natural disaster.
Movement 5 (Lines 17–20)
Text Reference: Final passage beginning with the arrival of the billy goat...
Meaning: Recognizing that polite verbal pleas are useless against an oblivious singer, a perceptive billy goat takes decisive action. Lowering its horns, the goat charges directly into Bhisma, matching his loud screech with an equally forceful bellow. The violent collision knocks the wind out of the singer, abruptly ending his performance and bestowing the "golden gift" of silence upon a relieved world.
SECTION 5 — Central Theme and Mood
5A. Theme
"The Power of Music" is a satirical commentary on misplaced self-confidence, lack of self-awareness, and the annoyance caused when individuals impose their untalented efforts upon others. Sukumar Ray uses absurdity and hyperbole to demonstrate that good intentions cannot excuse destructive outcomes, ultimately celebrating the value of quiet restraint over unwanted noise.
5B. Mood/Tone
The poem opens with a lighthearted, playful tone that quickly escalates into chaotic, frantic, and exaggerated panic as the singing affects humans, animals, and nature alike. It reaches an absurd, climactic height of destruction before resolving into a triumphant, highly ironic, and comic ending.
5C. Key Ideas
Artistic passion without genuine talent or sensitivity to one's audience turns creative expression into a public nuisance. Furthermore, when polite words fail to stop an oblivious egoist, direct and decisive action becomes necessary to restore harmony.
SECTION 6 — Vocabulary in Context
Word/Phrase | Meaning IN THIS CONTEXT | Line Reference |
Hell-bent | Stubbornly determined to continue singing regardless of the terrible consequences | Line 2 |
Well-meant | Intended to be pleasant or kindly, despite causing immense distress | Line 3 |
Broadside | A forceful, simultaneous attack, comparing his loud voice to a naval cannon fire | Line 7 |
Turn turtle | Flip upside down in mid-air due to complete disorientation | Line 13 |
Welkin | The sky or upper atmosphere, personified as weeping from the screeching sound | Line 15 |
Sagacious | Wise, insightful, and practical in finding a real solution | Line 17 |
Golden gift | The precious and deeply appreciated relief of absolute silence | Line 20 |
SECTION 7 — Poetic Devices
Device | Exact Quoted Phrase or Line | Effect | Line Reference |
Hyperbole | "sounds in hill and plain / From Delhi down to Burma" | Exaggerates the geographical reach of his voice to instantly establish an absurd, comical setting. | Lines 1–2 |
Metaphor | "unending broadside" | Compares the loud singing to an artillery barrage, presenting the song as a physical assault on listeners. | Line 7 |
Personification | "sky is weeping silken / Tears to hear that screech" | Gives human emotional responses to the heavens, magnifying the unbearable quality of the noise. | Lines 15–16 |
Situational Irony | "grants the golden gift of silence" | Highlights the irony that the greatest contribution made by this passionate musician is simply stopping his music. | Line 20 |
Rhyme Scheme: Presented as a continuous 20-line narrative, the English translation utilizes energetic rhyming couplets (such as Sharma/Burma, hell-bent/well-meant, and sickly/quickly) combined with internal rhymes that maintain a swift, rhythmic cadence suited for nonsense verse.
SECTION 8 — Extract Practice (One Sample Set)
Passage Reference: Movement 5 — beginning with "A goat, a sagacious animal..."Read the complete stanza in the prescribed Treasure Chest textbook before answering.
(i) Why is the billy goat described as "sagacious" by the poet? [3]
Answer: The billy goat is described as "sagacious" or wise because it possesses the practical wisdom that human onlookers lacked. While the panicked crowd wasted time making useless verbal pleas to an oblivious singer, the goat accurately understood that Bhisma would only respond to direct physical force. Its decisive judgment solves a crisis that had overwhelmed the entire community.
(ii) How does the goat put an end to Bhisma Lochan Sharma's singing? [3]
Answer: The goat lowers its head and charges straight at Bhisma with full force, matching the singer's screech with a powerful bellow of its own. The violent headbutt collides with the musician, sending his notes flying and physically knocking the song out of him. This sudden impact forces Bhisma to stop singing instantly.
(iii) Explain the comic effect of the phrase "bellow answering bellow" in this context. [3]
Answer: The phrase "bellow answering bellow" creates a humorous comparison by equating Bhisma’s passionate vocalizing with the crude bleating of a farm animal. It strips away the singer's grand artistic pretensions, reducing his music to mere noise. Matching his vocal efforts against a goat's cry highlights the absurdity of his unrefined performance.
(iv) What is meant by the "golden gift of silence," and why is it ironic? [3]
Answer: The "golden gift of silence" refers to the long-awaited peace restored to the world once the unbearable noise ceases. It is deeply ironic because one normally expects a musician to bestow the gift of beautiful song. In Bhisma's case, his greatest service to humanity is not his music, but the total absence of it.
(v) How does this final movement bring out the central message of the poem? Support your view with textual evidence. [4]
Answer: The final movement delivers the poem's satire by showing that self-absorbed vanity cannot be reasoned with through polite words alone. While human beings suffered, collapsed, and made "frantic" pleas without success, it took a "sagacious" goat's direct intervention to end the auditory nightmare. By resolving an epic, sky-weeping catastrophe with a simple headbutt from a goat, Ray uses bathos to puncture inflated human ego. The ending emphasizes that true harmony lies in self-awareness and restraint, making the cessation of bad art a true "golden gift."
SECTION 9 — Short Answer Questions
Q1. Explain the central theme of "The Power of Music" in your own words.
Answer: "The Power of Music" uses nonsense and satire to criticize overconfidence, lack of self-awareness, and the nuisance of untalented enthusiasm. Sukumar Ray demonstrates how an individual wrapped up in his own ego can remain entirely blind to the suffering he inflicts on others. Although Bhisma’s singing is "well-meant," its unbearable execution disrupts society, nature, and the heavens alike. The poem emphasizes that good intentions cannot justify harmful results, using a humorous animal intervention to show that quiet restraint is often far more valuable than loud, unpolished skill.
Q2. How does Sukumar Ray use hyperbole to create humor in the poem? Give examples from the text.
Answer: Sukumar Ray uses escalating hyperbole to build an absurdly comical world where a single voice causes widespread disaster. He begins with geographical exaggeration, claiming Bhisma's humming travels "from Delhi down to Burma." The absurdity grows as the song physically overturns bullock carts, causes fish to dive deep for quiet, makes birds flip upside down in mid-flight, and causes heavy mansions to tumble. Finally, even the sky is personified as weeping tears over the screeching sound. By expanding a bad musical performance into a cosmic catastrophe, Ray creates a hilarious masterpiece of nonsense verse.
SECTION 10 - Interactive Worksheet
SECTION 11 - Teacher Planner
SECTION 12 — Premium Resource Pointer
This blog post provides an introductory guide to Sukumar Ray's "The Power of Music" tailored for ICSE Class 10 Literature students. For complete exam mastery, BhashaLab's premium PDF Notes offer comprehensive line-by-line analyses, additional extract-based practice sets, objective question banks, and strategic board exam advice.
